This was gonna be a rough night. This was the thought hounding Maryluz Ayala as she sat broodingly in the center of her darkened room, lit only by a candle on each side of her desk.
She no longer had a flair for the dramatic, not since her teenage years, but under the current circumstances... it seemed fitting.
Below her was a miniature young woman, held down to the table by pieces of duct tape - someone she once knew as her friend Alexandra. And as she laid there, restrained by the tape and terrified at the giantess above her, Alexandra was also plagued by a much more harrowing thought: she would not survive the night.
Above the desk, in a small metallic box atop the shelf was the other target of Maryluz’s scourge - 22-year old Tesla Verali, the top candidate for Valedictorian at Wayne State. Getting these two out of the way was an enormous risk - already there was a city-wide search underway to find them - well, to find Tesla anyway. All the attention went to the pretty dark-haired Caucasian girl from a wealthy family who’d gone missing. Not so much so for her darker-skinned, Latina friend Alexandra.
Maryluz flicked her dark-haired curls back, catching her breath - she was already worked up and sweating. The day had been a mixture of rushing and frustration. Facing interrogation from police questioning everyone on campus - she handled it well, she thought. Yes, she saw the missing girls on Sunday. Yes, she and Tesla didn’t get along. But no, there was no way in hell they were gonna prove what she did to them.
They would stay hidden - with Tesla out of the way, they had to include Maryluz in the Cultural Studies Abroad program, a 6-month venture in Milan she had wanted ever since she was still in high school. All the spots were filled, the scholarships were given away – no doubt gone to all the rich donors’ “prodigies”. No more room, they said. So Maryluz figured she’d make the damn room. She was through asking nicely. Surely her fellow craft practitioners might look down at her for using Occult Spells for personal gain, but they wouldn’t know what happened for a while.
All she had to do now was get her application on the waitlist. That’s where Alex came in.
Maryluz leaned in closer to Alexandra, resting her head on both hands. The tiny woman was fighting against the tape’s restraint on her wrists and ankles. “You preppy hipsters think you’re so clever...” Maryluz said.
Up in the metal box, Tesla managed to lift herself over the edge and onto the books below, trying to be as silent as possible.
“Guess what, honey? You work in Studies Abroad,” said Maryluz, “you have access to the application system. You’re gonna tell me the code to get in.”
Maryluz reached for one of the candles on the desk - it had been burning long enough to build an excess of melted wax. She turned the wax over just lightly. Alex shrieked, seeing the giant candle looming above her. Maryluz slanted the candle just a bit, allowing large drops to fall on Alex’s arms.
Alex instantly felt the burning liquid on her arms and the heat build up as if they were being set on fire. She tried to pull away, but Maryluz clamped down with her hand, pressing her against the hard surface of the desk.
“Give me the passcode,” she commanded, watching the shrunken girl writhe in pain.
She toppled the candle again, dripping the wax over Alex’s neck and part of her face. Alex managed to shut her eyes in time, but screamed as she felt the blazing heat press into her flesh.
Stuck on the shelf some three feet above, Tesla was dismayed at the sight. “Maryluz! Leave her alone, you psycho!” she screamed.
Maryluz shrugged Tesla off. She wasn’t gonna get at her with words. Just to torment her more, Maryluz toppled the candle again, this time for longer. She carried the candle along the length of Alex’s body, dripping wax along her torso and legs. The tiny girl shrieked and kicked aimlessly - with a shrill that sent a shiver down Tesla’s spine. Alex could feel the wax bubbling, boiling on her flesh as it transferred all of its heat.
Tesla took a step closer, but froze as she felt the book beneath her wobble.
Noticing this, Maryluz tossed her hand at Tesla, knocking the tiny girl and the metal box back against the wall. Tesla and the box fell back behind the books, the box collapsing on top of Tesla. Alex panicked at hearing the ruckus - unable to pull herself up or turn her head enough, she could only wonder what was happening.
“It’s time you and your friend came to terms with the reality.” Said Maryluz, opening her desk drawer. No one’s coming to rescue you. Neither of you is going on this trip.”
Maryluz raised her hand with a smirk, holding up an object from the drawer. Alex felt her heart sink as she made out what was a small pumpkin carving knife. Maryluz waved it menacingly in front of her, with a sense of delight that made Alex all the more worried. Alex pulled her arms and tried to kick as hard as she could, but it was pointless against the hold of the masking tape.
Maryluz again learned right over Alex. The shrunken girl could feel her warm breath on her as she spoke.
“How’s this for twisted?” said Maryluz, and with just a flick of her wrist, she swung the knife at Alex’s arm, tearing a piece of the clothing and drawing forth blood. Alex screamed and twisted violently - in all her movement, the tape was beginning to break off the table.
“Okay, okay! Enough!” beckoned Alex, feeling blood begin to run down her right arm.
She knew things were not about to get any easier.
“What’s. The. Code!” Maryluz snapped, slashing at Alex’s right leg. The knife pulled off flesh in a single slice. Alex wailed as the searing pain took over her leg.
“Fuck!!! It’s…. W-2-3-0!” she screamed, holding back a tear.
Maryluz pulled her laptop from her backpack, content at seeing Alex submit. “See, now wasn’t that easy?”
From the shelf, Tesla slowly wiggled her way out from under the box, unbeknownst to Maryluz. Hearing the clattering of keyboard keys, Tesla picked herself up and dashed to the edge of the shelf. Things were going to get ugly.
Maryluz worked her way through the system, when a section of bolded text on the screen caught her eye. She became still, making sense of the text…. “Due to continued incidents of hostility and aggression, the office of Studies Abroad recommends that applicant Maryluz Ayala is barred from this year’s program and is ineligible for the waitlist.
Signed by Alexandra Aquino.
Goddammit.
Maryluz’s breaths became sharper, her head warmer. She skimmed through the words on the screen hastily - seeing only a word here, a word there.
“I’m blacklisted?” she yelled, turning towards the desk. Alex began to struggle with all her might - she had to break free of those damned tapes NOW.
Tesla jumped off the shelf and onto the adjacent dresser below. She started pushing and kicking the items on the dresser, knocking over jewelry beads and nail polish flasks. She refused to be intimidated, even if the odds were all against her. Make as loud a ruckus as possible – she thought, get her to go after you so Alex can break free.
“What did you expect?” Tesla shouted. “You’re an insufferable bitch, with the lowest scores in the group!”
Maryluz slammed the laptop cover shut and got up towards the dresser. Damn spoiled girl.
“That’s bullshit!” said Maryluz, still holding the carving knife. “I just don’t suck up to YOU freaks, and I shouldn’t have to go where I want to go!
“You’re calling US freaks? Look in the fucking mirror!” goaded Tesla.
That’s good - stall her, thought Alex. Almost there. She pushed herself back over to the right - to the left… and slipped one hand from under the masking tape.
“You’re pathetic. All your hollering and bitching, you still can’t get what you want.” continued Tesla, trying to stay hidden among the boxes and trinkets on Maryluz’s dresser. Maryluz lunged for Tesla, but the tiny woman jumped towards the back of the dresser in time as bottles and containers toppled over. Turning on her dresser lamp, Maryluz instantly saw the figure of Tesla taking cover between two cream containers. She quickly grabbed her in her fist and darted back to the table, where Alex had begun to make a run for it.
Her adrenaline rushing, Maryluz noticed Alex off the corner of her eye – the culprit responsible. She rushed to the table, and without hesitation, slammed the carving knife right into Alex’s back. Alex writhed at the seething feel of the blade. Before she could raise her arms or try to deflect, Maryluz pulled the knife back and stabbed her again, this time just below her the chest.
Tesla was horrified at the sight of Alex's body violently jolting and the sounds of her choking, gurgling, and screaming. Maryluz stabbed her again and again, each stab slicing her insides and drawing pints of blood. The last stab cut right into her heart. Alex's eyes shot wide open, and her arms and legs lifted forcefully. Maryluz stared right into Alex's bloodshot eyes, seeing her body tremble and contract - watching the life go out from her. Callously, Maryluz twisted the knife, drawing one more convulsion from Alex. Tesla shook dismayed as she saw Alex's body go limp.
“You want to keep fucking with me, you little shit?” shouted a frenzied Maryluz. “Still think you're gonna dazzle your way out of this one? Here, look at her See what you’ve done!”
Tesla felt the room spin and turn around her as she was lowered to the desk and dropped right on top of Alex's now dead body. She gasped at feeling the blood and remnants of wax latch on to her arms, her face. She was trying to pull herself off, when Maryluz brought her hand down on her, and pressed down.
Maryluz repeatedly pressed down on Tesla, dragging her up and down and into Alex's open wounds. Tesla felt sickened, coughing up Alex's blood. She was being crushed against a corpse. Tesla began to see flashes of red and felt her body being compressed and crushed against Alex and the table. She felt for sure she was going to burst wide open.
That was, until Maryluz grabbed Tesla by the hair and slammed her back into the metal box, a loud pop sounding as Tesla struck the metal wall. Maryluz shut the box and tossed it against the wall. Her head pounding, she sat back by the desk and brought both hands to her face, trying to wind down.
No one must ever find her, she thought. Maryluz picked up Alex with a tissue and made her way over to the candles on her desk. She dropped Alex into the container and watched as the lone flame inside slowly spread across the miniature figure and became a larger, brighter flare as it engulfed her.
Inside the metal box, Tesla was sickened, degraded - covered in dried wax and blood that wasn't hers. She was fighting desperately not to prove Maryluz wrong, not to let herself be broken by her, but to no avail. A sharp, nonstop pain tugged at her ribs and arms as tears ran down her eyes. Something had broken for sure, but Tesla laid still, shrouded in worry, shock, and uncertainty. Tesla and Maryluz each contemplated their fate as the last bits of Alex burned away into ashes, like that well-known book said, “going out altogether, like a candle”...